Coding machine



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April 25, 1933. w. KORN CODING MACHINE Filed Nov. 12, 1929 3Sheets-Sheet 1 April 25, 1933. w. KORN GODIN@ MACHINE Filed Nov. l2,1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 eFEDC A ZYxw G .r E D C B A 2 vl X GFEDCBAZYXWGFEDCB A ZYxw Jn vente? April 25, 1933. w KQRN 1,905,593

CODING' MACHINE Filed Nov. 12, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Apr. 25,1933 UNITED STATES g WILLIAKORN, OF BERLIN-FRIEDENAU, GERMANY CODINGMACHINE Application filed November 12, 1928, Serial No.'

Coding machines having coding drums are known, in which there is rigidlyconnected to the body of the coding drum a control member for advancingthe coding drums. Such a control member has hitherto usually consistedof a ring provided With a single notch for the engagement of a pawl or atooth.- gap for the engagement of a driving pinion.

It has also been proposed to provide on the bodies of the coding drumscharacter rings which are rotatable and adjustable with re spect tothem, for expressing the coding key in another way than by charactersarranged directly on the actual drum bodies. The forward feed of theseparate coding drums was effected in each case in accordance with the`position of the single notch or the single tooth-gap in the controlmember with respect to the body of the coding drum according to adefinite system of connections as deter-4 mined by the Wire connectionsin the interior of the coding drums. The shiftability of the characterring is of only small advantage, as this shiftability did not findexpression in the coded message and no fresh transpositions of thoseparts which are essential for the coding were effected (variation inalphabetic correspondence).

In an arrangement of this kind it may 3o occur that in spite of thecharacter ring being turned, that is to say with a totally differentcode key designation, nothing will be changed as regards the position ofthese coding drums with respect to the other coding drums, thus offeringan additional possibility of unauthorized decoding.

According to the invention the control member is connected to therotatable and lixable character ring. This provides the advantage that,on the character ring being displaced with respect to the body of thecoding drum, not only is the key made more obscure, but the drive of thecoding drum which happens to be the adjacent one is fundamentallychanged. In a modified constructional form means are provided through aplurality of single notches or single toothgaps, the number of which ispreferably a prime number, for bringing about a particularly frequentshifting of adjacent coding 406,695, and in Germany, November 1 6, 1928.

drums and thereby producing each time the character rings are displaceda particularly favourable setting of the controlling mechanisln. It isof particular advantage for the various coding drums to have 4differentnumbers of points of application for the control member (single notches,single tooth-gaps or the like) prime numbers being again preferable forthis purpose.

In another constructional form the control member is connected to thecharacter ring so as to be releasable and in some cases interchangeable,thus further increasing the secrecy of the code.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a coding machine partlyin section,

Fig. 2 an end view of a single part (coding drum),

Fig. 3 a view partly in cross-section and partly in side elevation ofthe said separate part,

Fig. 4 a plan view of a codingmachine in which some of the parts aremodified,

Fig. 5 a partial end view of a separate part of the construction shownin Fig. 4 (coding drum),

Fig. 6 the same detail-partly in section and partly in elevation,

Fig. 7 a rear view of Fig. 5,

Fig. 8 a partial cross-section through a coding drum of somewhatdiierent construction and Fig. 9 a coding drum of any constructionalform partly in cross-section and partly in side elevation.

In Fig. 1 the reference 1 indicates the character transmitting members(keys) which bear the separate characters, for instance the letters ofthe alphabet. The parts 2 are character indicators, for instanceincandescent electric lamps which, on a key 1 being depressed, light upand cause the char- 95 acters in the coded or decoded message to appearon a transparent disc 3 which is disposed above the incandescent lampsand which bears the same characters, for instance lettelsi d the keya.4At 4 a plurality of 10 coding drums lynglone behind the other isindicated 'which are provided on both sides with electric contactscorresponding to the number of characters on the v eys. The contacts onone side of the coding drums are connected to the contacts on the othervside vof the same coding drums by electric conductors which arearranged as irregularly as possible. The coding drums which are arrangedone behind the other are connected together electrically by the contactson their faces so that on a key being depressed the electric currentmust ow from a source of current (not shown) through all the drums alonga zig-zag path, as it were, before reaching the character indicators 2and causing the corresfmding incandescent lamp to light up. earrangement of such .separate coding drums one behind the other is shownin Fig. 4. Such arrangements are already known, for instancef throughGerman Patent 425,147. American Patent 1,533,252 and British Patent163,357.

During the coding operation, that is to say on a key being depressed,the drums are in such coding machines turned with respect to one anotherwith the object of` continuously changing the coding key during coding.In Fig. 1 the part 5 is av lever which is rocked on one of the keys 1being depressed so that it moves into the position indicated by 5. Atthe end of this lever is a pawl 6 which is shown at 6 in the rockedposition. This pawl is capable of engaging in a ratchet wheel 7 and, ona key being depressed, shifting one of the coding drums, for instancethe coding drum 4, through the distance of one tooth in the direction ofthe arrow A. A stop member 8 is provided which on the pawl 6 beingrocked allows the coding drum to advance only by exactly one forwardstep through the pawl striking with its edge 9 against the edges 10 ofthe stop member, thus preventing it from moving outwards and the edge 11by striking against the Hank 12 of one of the teeth preventing thecoding drum from being further advanced through the mass of the drumbeing accelerated beyond the desired forward step.

The other coding drums are displaced eitherl by a depression of the keyscausing similar pawls to be put in motion, which engage in correspondingnotches in the adjacent coding drums or by being driven by a coding drumthrough any suitable means, for instance pinions, which engage intoothed wheels on the adjacent coding drums and are themselves put inmot-ion by single teeth. Such a method of advancing single coding drums14, 15, 16 from a coding drum 13 by means of pinions 17, 18, 19 is shownin Fig. 4, single teeth engaging in toothed gaps 21, 22 for drivingthese pinions lbeing also indicated. For setting a definite coding key1n such a coding device'the characters, for

instance the letters ofthe alphabet, are

-in'arked on the coding drums themselves or 411,126. Such characterrings are shown by way of example in Fig.`4 at 23,24, 25 and 26'and inFig. 3 at 27.

For setting the coding key, that is to say for turning the codingQdrums, the drums must be notched in order that the separate codingdrums shall make contact with one another, so that the contacts on the'drums will be in exact register and consequently the passage of theVelectric current will be secure under all circumstances. For thispurpose detents 28 are provided with rollers 29 which engage in notches30 on the notched wheels 31. These notched wheels are rigidly connectedto the individual coding drums. Besides in Fig. 1 such detents are shownin Fig. 4 at 32, 33, 34, 35 with detent rollers 36, 37, 38, 39. In Fig.4 thesc detents and detent rollers are shown in the position in whichthey are just out of engagement with le corresponding notched wheels 40,41, 42,

The forward feed of the individual coding drums during the codingoperation is thus effected by a separate control member consistingeither of a ring or disc provided with a notch and connected rigidly tothe coding drum or of the single tooth-gaps 20, 21, 22, already referredto, which may be mounted either directly on the drums or on the rings44, 45, 46. In this case the rings are also lrigidly connected to thebody of the coding drums. l

According to the invention these control members are connected to thecharacter rings which are capable of being rotated or fixed and are thusthemselves capable of being set. This connection is established by sucha control member in the form of a ring 47 being connected by screws 48rigidly with the corresponding adjustable character ring 27.

Another constructional form is shown in Fig. 6 in which the controlmember consists of a ring 49 having single tooth-gaps 50 and forming asingle piece with the adjustable character ring 51. In anotherconstructional form shown in Fig. 8 an independent ring 52 is providedas the support for a single toothgap; this ring is however normalypressed firmly by a nut 53 against an adjustable character ring 54,being thus rigidly connected to it. In this last constructional form thering 52 with its single tooth-gap is also adjustable with respect to thecharacter ring 54 and can be removed after the removal of the nut 53 sothat the character ring 54 may be combined with another ring152 havingsingle `toothga s of a dill'erent kind', for instance a plurallty ofsuch gaps. Y By this arrangement the great advantage for coding isobtained that a displacement of 6 the character ring will not only setadiiferent coding key but will also change the Way in which the othercoding drums are advanced and thereby change the substitute alphabet.This increases the safety of the coded message lo against being decodedby an unauthorized person.

While in the hitherto known coding devices of such a type having codingdrums and a control member for advancing the coding drums by means of acontrol part, for instance a pavvl or a pinion and character rings witha control member, only a single point of application for the controlpart, for 1nstance a single ratchet notch or only one single tooth rapacting on the connecting p'lnion is provided, according to the inventionthe control member is Provided with a plurality of such points oapplication.

In Fi 1 and 2 this is indicated by three points osa plication (ratchetnotches 55).

In Fig. i) this is indicated by three single tooth-gaps 50 on the ring49 which is integral with its corresponding character ring 51.

The number of points of application is i preferably a prime number, thisnumber in the example shown being the prime number 3. i

A particular advantage is obtained if the number of points ofapplication on the control memberisdilferent in each individual codingdrum.

The result of such an arrangement is that during the coding operation bydisplacing the adjustable character ring a different for- Ward feed,namely a particularly frequent forward feed of the coding drums iseffected and consequentl a frequent change of the substitute alphabet,While by using a prime number for the number of points of application arepetition of the same substitute alph abet Will be prevented, whichwould result in a shortening of the coding period.

The prime numbers are so selected that none of these prime numbers isdivisible into the number of characters on the character rings, forinstance the number of 26 letters.

According to the invention another character ring may be provided on theindividual coding drums besides the rotatable and tixable character ringconnected to a control member for the advance of the other coding drums.This is shown in Fig. 9. In this figure 56 is a rotatable and ixablecharacter ring connected to a ring 57 supporting the control member, forinstance a single tooth gap 58. 59 is the additional character ringwhich is also rotatable and fixable with respect to the body of thecoding drum, and' which in this case only serves the purpose of 65setting the coding key and, through being adustable, of increasing thesecrecy of the co e.

In Figs. 5 to 9 the part 60 is the body of the coding drum, 61 are thecontacts on one side, 62 the contacts on the other side, 63 the electricconductors, 64 thenotclied wheel, 65 the rin of teeth, which meshes witha correspon in" pinion by which it is driven, as shown in ig. 4.

The character rings are adjustabl connected to their correspondin codecy inders by spring latches as indicated in Figure 4 at 66, 67, 68, 69for the four character rings 23, 24, 25 and 26. It is shown at 68 howsuch a spring latch is loosened in order that the character ring 25 maybe rotated and adjusted in another position with respect ,to the codecylinder 15.

The course of the current through the coding device, the arrangement ofthe keys and the coding cylinders, the indicating means (incandescentelectric lamps) are the same as described in my U. S. Patent 1,733,886and shown in Fig. 2 for the course of the current.

The means for rotating at predetermined periods each code cylinder fromthe preceding one are described and shown in my copending U. S. patentapplication, Serial No.

504,000 of 5th Nov. 1929, especially Figs. 10, 11 and 13.

What I claim is:

1. An electrical coding device comprising coding cylinders containingelectric conductors and electrical contacts for passin the electriccurrent through the coding evice for the purpose of exchangingcharacters, a gear connected with each coding cylinder, means forrotating the coding cylinders, character keys operating the rotatingmeans for the coding cylinders, manually operable character ringsadapted to be operated with respect to the coding cylinders, means forfixing the character rings on the coding cylinders, means for rotatingat predetermined periods each coding cylinder from the preceding one,and a plurality of teeth for the rotating means connected with thecharacter rings to enable a frequent rotation of the adjacent cylinder.

2. An electrical coding device comprising coding cylinders containingelectric conductors and electrical contacts for passing the electriccurrent through the coding device for the purpose of exchangingcharacters, a gearing connected with each code cylinder, means forrotating the coding cylinders, character keys operating the rotatingmeans for the coding cylinders, manually operable character ringsadapted to be rotated with respect to the coding cylinders, means forfixing the character rings on the coding cylinders, means for rotatingat predetermined periods each coding cylinder from the preceding one',and a plurality of teeth for the rotating meansconnected with thecharacter- A thereof, the number of teeth being means irregularlydistributed over the pe-v ri hery thereof to enable a o the adjacent clinder.

3.-An electrica coding device comprising coding cylinders containingelectrical conductors and electrical contacts for passing the electriccurrent through the coding device frequent rotation for the purpose ofexchanging characters, al

gear connected with each coding cylinder, means for rotating the codingcylinders, character keys operating the rotating means for the codingcylinders, manually operable character rings adapted to be rotated withre# spect to the coding cylinders, means for fixing the character ringson the coding c linders, means for rotating at predetermine periods eachcoding cylinder from the preceding one, and a plurality of teeth for therotating means connected with the character rings irregularlydistributed over the periphery a prime number to enable a frequentrotatlon of the adjacent cylinder.

4. An electrical coding device comprising coding cylinders containingelectrical con-` ductors and electrical contacts for passing theelectric current through the coding device for the purpose of exchangingcharacters, a gear connected with each coding cylinder, means forrotating the coding cylinders, character keys operating the rotatingmeans for the coding cylinders, manually operable character ringsadapted tobe rotated with respect to the coding cylinders, a pluralityof teeth for the rotating means connected with the character rings, andthe teeth on the single character ring being different from one anotherin number and position to enable frequent rotation of the cylinder.

5. An electrical coding device comprising coding cylinders containingelectrical conductors and electrical contacts for passing the currentthrough the coding device for the purpose of exchanging characters, agear' vconnected with each coding cylinder, means for rotating thecoding cylinders, character keys operating the rotating means :Eor`thecoding cylinders, manually operated character rings adapted to berotated with respect to the coding cylinders, means for fixing thecharacter rings on the coding c linders, means for rotating atpredetermine periods each coding cylinder from the preceding one, and aplurality of teeth for the rotating means detachably connected with eachring and interchangeably connected with the character rings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLI KORN.

